Thaci urged Brussels to lift the visa regime for Kosovars after it approved last month a long-pending border demarcation deal with Montenegro set as a precondition from Brussels for Kosovo's citizens to travel without visas in Europe's Schengen travel zone, the last among former Eastern European countries.

In 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, which Belgrade still rejects.

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6:20 p.m.

Albania is hailing the European Commission's recommendation to launch membership talks while acknowledging the country faces a rough path to join the bloc.

Prime Minister Edi Rama said the commission's backing Tuesday shows the tiny Western Balkan country has "at last come out of a crossroad between the past and the future."

Rama said during a news conference that launching membership negotiations would mean "entering into a new stage, more difficult, of the reforms and further escalation of the fight against crime and corruption."

Albanian Foreign Affairs Minister Ditmir Bushati called it a "great day for Albania," but also "a day to roll up sleeves and carry on the hard work."

Albania was granted EU candidate status in 2014.

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4:10 p.m.

The European Commission is recommending that the EU launch membership talks with Albania and Macedonia, even as enthusiasm for enlargement of the 28-nation bloc wanes.

The EU's executive arm, which monitors reform progress among countries hoping to join, said Tuesday that the two are on the right path.